Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Collection

Bulbous body with four stub legs, tall neck and internal strainer, tall scooped edge to the rim, loop handle to the rear; body and neck painted with geometric motifs, red paint on the base and legs. 1.16 kg, 32.3 cm



UK collection, 1990s. Acquired on the UK art market, before 2000. Private collection, Mr M.V., a London-based businessman.

Artefacts from Amlash date from the late second millennium B.C. through to the Partho-Sasanian period, with most dated to the 9th and 8th centuries B.C. Zoomorphic drinking or ritual vessels are abundant in Amlash pottery and usually feature depictions of animals common to that region. Such vessels have been recovered across Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and they were known as Bibru. They were produced as ceremonial drinking vessels, dedicated to specific deities, but they might also have served as drinking vessels for the social elite and royal family members.

Finely carved as a stylised bull's head with short horns and bulbous eyes, incised nostrils and mouth, perforated at the back of the neck for suspension. 28.9 grams, 40 mm



Ex property of the late Mr S.M., London, UK, 1969-1999, thence by descent. Accompanied by a previous typed cataloguing card. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder Seal of Faience with Green Glaze 43 x 17 mm. The design, which is contained within a line above and another beneath, consists of two scenes of worship. The one shows a stylized sacred tree with a central trunk and five branches each side, all ending in buds, then a pendant hanging from each lowest branch on either side. On left and right and facing the tree are worshippers, both with hands raised. The other scene has two similar worshipers, facing each other with hands raised. Between them the area is divided in the middle by a guilloche. Above it is a stag falling onto its neck, below it is another kind of horned animal, but recumbent and turning its head. This seal is Mitanni, c. 1500-1200 B.C and from anywhere in the area between Syria and Western Kurdistan. It is a product of the Hurrian civilization and the stylized tree is a symbol of the Storm God, Hurrian Teshub, Babylonian Adad, Hebrew Hadad or Baal. The horned animals occur commonly on Mitanni seals, and this seal proves that they are symbolic of some god, but it is not known which one. The guilloche is a standard decorative filler of the period. Faience is a manufactures substance, comparable with the modern porcelain. In the ground it often deteriorates over the centuries and has a powdery surface. This one, however, is in good condition, the only mark of its age being that the glaze has lost something of its original colour, which was turquoise This is an unusually large seal and important since seals of this size and quality are extremely rare.'; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 11.3 grams, 42 mm



From the private collection of a North American lady, formed 1970s-early 1990s, with collection reference no.P31. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert dated September 1990.